The Rodent Hour

Playlist

Four years after arriving at Radio Free Brooklyn the goal is the same, to play records which I think are necessary, and the challenge of getting an audience to agree they're necessary is what's fun for me.

Playlist

During the afternoon of Halloween, just as I was putting together my playlist for the show, my laptop died. I don't have all of music backed up on my phone, it's a lot, but what I do have is pretty cool so I cobbled together a playlist of music by independent artists from Brooklyn and beyond

Playlist

This playlist is dedicated all the independent artists, not just the ones on this playlist, who continue to create and release music because they want to and not because they have to.

The Wall of Lies is back on!

Playlist

Listen live on Monday evening at 8PM on Radio Free Brooklyn.

Sadly, tragically, our Wall of Lies exhibit was vandalized with pro-Trump, Proud Boy slogans. For some reason calling out misinformation, gaslighting and lies upsets people. One of those upset people left us a voicemail so I incorporated that into a show that's filled with music by independent artists.

Playlist

Listen live on Monday evenings at 8:00 PM EST (UTC-4).

I'm not going to lie to you, after spending years developing a show that has featured over 240 unique artists as guests it's been a difficult adjustment not having anyone in the studio with me when I do a show. When it comes to producing an episode of The Rodent Hour one of the things I pride myself on is my ability to curate an evening's playlist with complementary music that helps to highlighted the music of my guest. Having a guest also allows me to feature more than one song from their latest release and, as a result, give the listener a better appreciation of artist's sound.

I'm telling you this as my way of letting you know that this week's playlist has tracks by a number of the same bands that I featured last week.

Playlist

Listen live on Monday evenings at 8 PM EST (UTC-4).

Road trip! We're taking the music of Brooklyn/NYC on the road tonight and we're be making stops in Philadelphia, Memphis, Louisville, Boston, San Diego, Seattle, Detroit, Indiana plus Ireland and France. (We get good gas mileage.)

We have new music by Streepthroat, The Acute, Radar, Muck and the Mires, Judex, Vulpynes, Sons of Southern Ulster, Werewolf Jones, The Archaeas, NOWHERELAND, plus THE MAGNET MEN, Brick Briscoe, Paranoid Visions, This Fear and The Heavy Eyes.

PLAYLIST

Listen live on Monday evenings at 8:00 PM on Radio Free Brooklyn.

Long before we were able to return to the studio I began thinking about ​shows that I would like to do since I wasn't going to be able to have guests join me in the studio. I decided that I would start with out a series of shows that featured the music of artists that I, and other members of The Rodents, listened to way back in the day along with an homage to a late night radio show, Brave New Waves, that we all used to listen to. This was all designed to give listeners an understanding of why I featured some of the music that I do on the show. I also wanted to do some shows that focused on what I consider really good albums by local artists along with highlighting some of the live music that we've featured over the years plus music by two-piece bands and music by former guests that had made an impact with my wife.

My reason for planning out these shows was my thinking that there wasn't going to be a lot of new music being created and released during the middle of a global pandemic. Well, I couldn't have been more wrong. Throughout it all, in the face of incredible odds and HUGE roadblocks, independent artists in NYC, in America, and around the world have continued to produce and create some really amazing music. Sure, a lot of it was probably in the works before the pandemic hit but when it comes to, and I'm paraphrasing Desert Sharks when I say this, the release of new music it should be treated with the same reverence as a baby shower and that baby is carried wayyy longer than 9 months and involves way more people committed to birthing it​. So the fact that artists are forgoing album/record release shows is really saying something.

So on World Gratitude Day please allow me to express my gratitude to all of the independent artists who continue to pour their heart and soul into their creative pursuits.

Playlist

Listen live on Monday evenings at 8PM EST on Radio Free Brooklyn

Week 2 of KRS1 serving as guest selector brings together a mixture of old favorites by The Highway, The Normal Living, Spanking Charlene, You Bred Raptors?, Alejandro Meola, The Tye Trybe, BAD LOOK, Bloom and Castle Black plus new music by good people including Finn & His Rustkickers, New Myths, Doe Paoro and Vajra.

There's a commonality between the artists on the playlist that won't be too hard to figure out. Besides all of the artists being local, all being good people and all being former guests, we've seen 100% of the artists perform live. I think that's pretty darn cool.

PLAYLIST

Listen live every Monday at 8:00 PM EDT on Radio Free Brooklyn.

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Having hosted The Rodent Hour off and on for the last 10 years, and the last four at Radio Free Brooklyn, I've played the music of an untold number of independent artists in our apartment and asked my wife far too many times, "What do you think of this?"

She appreciates a wide favorite of music so it's really no surprise that she likes a lot of what I play for her but over the years there have been a number of artists whose music has stuck with her, music that I'll hear her singing along to when I put it on while we cook dinner together or artists that she'll join me in seeing at a local club.

So tonight's playlist, and for at least the next couple of weeks, is drawn from those artists. Independent artists from a variety of genres including Americana, rock 'n' roll, pop-punk, glam rock, singer-songwriter, garage rock and they're ALL from NYC.

This is what Brooklyn sounds like. I hope you enjoy the show.

Listen LIVE on Monday evenings at 8:00 PM EST (UTC-5).